If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

AMM (Apis Millifera Millifera):The European dark bee (Apis mellifera mellifera) was domesticated in modern times, and taken to North America in colonial times. These small, dark-colored honey bees are sometimes called the German black bee, although they occurred originally from Britain to eastern Central Europe.

Antennae: Slender jointed feelers, which bear certain sense organs, on head of insects.

Apis cerana: Scientific name of the Eastern honey bee, the honey producer of South Asia, also called Apis indica.

Apis dorsata: Scientific name for the large honey bee of Asia which builds open air nests of single comb suspended from tree branches, rocky ledges, etc.

Apis florea: Scientific name for the small honey bee of Asia.

Artificial insemination: See instrumental insemination.

Autopollination: The automatic transfer of pollen from anthers to stigma within a flower as it opens.

Bacillus larvae: Bacterial organism causing American foulbrood.

Balling a queen: Clustering around unacceptable queen by worker bees to form a tight ball; usually queen dies or is killed in this way.

Bee bread: Pollen stored in cells of the comb and used by bees for food.

Bee dance: Anthropomorphic term for one of several physical maneuvers conducted within a bee colony; it has very inaccurate correlations relative to a forager’s flight experience in the field (distance and direction of the site visited), but odor on the dancer’s body appears to be the means of communication that recruits use to find the same nectar or pollen source.

Bee escape: Device to let bees pass in only one direction; usually inserted between honey supers and brood chambers, for removal of bees from honey supers.

Bee louse: Relatively harmless insect that gets on honey bees, but larvae can damage honeycomb; scientific name is Braula coeca.

Bee lust: An insatiable covetousness of more bees, hives, and/or beekeeping paraphernalia that leads one to amass more than they can possibly maintain or has the knowledge to manage.

Bee metamorphosis: The transformation of the bee from egg to larva to pupa and finally to the adult stage.

Bee moth: See wax moth.

Bee paralysis: An adult bee disease of chronic and acute type caused by different viruses.

Bee space: A space (1/4- to 5/16-inch) big enough to permit free passage for a bee but too small to encourage comb building. Leaving bee space between parallel beeswax combs and between the outer comb and the hive walls is the basic principle of hive construction.

Beeswax: Wax secreted from glands on the underside of bee abdomen; molded by bees to form honeycomb.

Bee tree: A hollow tree occupied by a colony of bees.

Bee veil: See veil.

Bee venom: Poison injected by bee sting.

Bee yard: (See Apiary).

Bottom board: Floor of beehive.

Brace comb: Section of comb built between and attached to other combs.

Braula coeca: See bee louse.

Boardman feeder: A small, wooden feeder placed at the hive entrance and holding an inverted pint or quart glass jar of sugar syrup. Not recommended.

Brood nest: Area of hive where bees are densely clustered and brood is reared.

Burr comb: Comb built out of place, between movable frames or between the hive bodies.

BT:Bacillus thuringiensis. Used for controlling wax moths. Bacillus thuringiensis aizawai strain NB200 is a part of a large group of bacteria, Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt), that occur naturally in soil. These bacteria are toxic to certain species of insects and can be used as an insecticides. Once ingested by larvae, Bt bacteria release a toxic protein into the insect digestive system. This protein causes death by attaching to the gut, eventually rupturing it. Different strains of Bt are toxic to specific groups of insects. Bacillus thuringiensis aizawai strain NB200 is known to be toxic to numerous species of moths, including many pests of agricultural crops.

Candy/Fondant Board - piece of equipment made for feeding bees during freezing weather when liquid feeding is not advised. Deeper than an inner cover to make room for the candy fondant, it replaces the inner cover (candy fondant side down). Sometimes built with a 2" block of polystyrene foam on top for insulation, and usually given some form of ventilation like a drilled hole or an aquarium hose running out of the hive. Fondant recipes may vary, but generally sugar and water are mixed fairly thick (7 parts sugar to 2 parts water has been mentioned), the mixture is heated to 230 to 240 degrees F, stirred until it thickens, then poured into the board, with or without wax paper lining.

Capped brood: Brood (either last larval stage or pupal stage) that has been capped over in its cell.

Capped honey: Cells full of honey, closed or capped with beeswax.

Cappings: Beeswax covering of cells of honey which are removed before extracting.

Cappings spinner: A centrifuge with wire-screened baskets used to separate honey from wax.

Castes: The three types of individual bees (workers, drones, and queen) that comprise the adult population of a bee colony.

Carniolan bees: A race of honey bees which originated in the southern part of the Austrian Alps and northern Yugoslavia.

Caucasian bees: A race of honey bees native to the high valleys of the Central Caucasus.

Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD): a phenomenon in which worker bees from a beehive or European honey bee colony abruptly disappear. While such disappearances have occurred throughout the history of apiculture, the term colony collapse disorder was first applied to a drastic rise in the number of disappearances of Western honey bee colonies in North America in late 2006. The cause or causes of the syndrome are not yet fully understood.

Cell: The six-sided compartment of a honeycomb, used to raise brood or to store honey and pollen. Worker cells approximate five to the linear inch, drone cells are larger averaging about four to the linear inch.

Chilled brood: Brood that has died because of chilling. It can be a result of mistreatment of the bees by the beekeeper. It also can be caused by a pesticide hit that primarily kills off the adult population, or by a sudden drop in temperature during rapid spring buildup. The brood must be kept warm at all times; nurse bees will cluster over the brood to keep it at the right temperature. When a beekeeper opens the hive (to inspect, remove honey, check the queen, or just to look) and prevents the nurse bees from clustering on the frame for too long, the brood can become chilled, deforming or even killing some of the bees.

Chromosomes: The structures in a cell that carry the genes.

Chunk honey: A jar of honey containing both liquid (extracted) honey and a piece of comb with honey.

Cleansing flight: Flight bees take after days of confinement, during which they void their feces.

Cluster: Loosely, any group of bees that forms a relatively compact aggregation. A winter cluster is composed of all the bees in the colony huddled as closely together as necessary to maintain the required temperature. As the ambient temperature increases, the cluster expands until it loses its identity but it will reappear if the temperature drops.

Colony: Social community of several thousand worker bees, usually containing one queen, with or without drones. (See social insects.)

Comb: (See honeycomb).

Comb foundation: Thin sheet of beeswax impressed by mill to form bases of cells; some foundation also is made of plastic and metal.

Comb honey: Honey marketed and eaten in the comb.

Corbicula: See pollen basket.

Creamed honey: Honey made to crystallize smoothly by seeding with 10 percent crystallized honey and storing at about 57°F.

Cross pollination: Transfer of pollen between plants which are not of identical genetic material.

Crystallized honey: Honey hardened by formation of dextrose-hydrate crystals. Can be reliquefied by gentle heat.

Dearth: Severe to total lack of availability, usually in reference to nectar and/or pollen.

Demaree: Method of swarm control, by which queen is separated from most of brood; devised by man of that name.

Dextrose: Also known as glucose; one of principal sugars of honey.

Diastase: Enzyme that aids in converting starch to sugar.

Diploid: An organism or cell with two sets of chromosomes, for example, worker and queen honey bees.

Disappearing disease: A condition in which colonies become weak from causes which are not readily identifiable.

Division board: Flat board used to separate two colonies or colony into two parts.

Division board feeder: A wooden or plastic trough which is placed in the hive in a frame space to feed the colony honey or sugar syrup.

Drawn comb: Comb having the cells built out (drawn) by honey bees from a sheet of foundation. Cells are about 1/2-inch deep.

Drift: Movement of bees from their original hive into a neighboring hive frequent with drones and surprisingly common with workers.

Drone comb: Comb with about four cells to the inch and in which drones are reared.

Drone congregation area (DCA): an area where many drones from surrounding colonies gather to mate with queens during their nuptial flights.

Drone layer: A queen which lays only unfertilized eggs which always develop into drones. Results from improperly or non-mated queen or an older queen who has run out of sperm.

Dwindling: Rapid or unusual depletion of hive population, usually in the spring.

Dysentery: The discharge of fecal matter by adult bees within the hive. Commonly contributing conditions are nosema disease, excess moisture in the hive, starvation conditions, and low quality food. Tan, brown, or black fecal smears on combs or outside of hive indicate such a problem.

Escape board: Board with one or more bee escapes on it to permit bees to pass one way. Used to empty one or more supers of bees.

Extracted honey: Honey removed from the comb by centrifugal motion (in a special machine called an extractor) and marketed in the liquid form.

Extractor: Machine that rotates honeycombs at sufficient speed to remove honey from them.

Fanning: Worker bees fan the hive by directing airflow into the hive or out of the hive depending on need, sometimes cooling it with evaporated water brought by water carrier bees.

Festoon: A unique cluster of bees that link themselves together by their tarsi (feet) in a loose network between combs in a hive. Normally, these are aggregates of wax-producing bees.

FGMO: Food Grade Mineral Oil. Has been used as an alternative treatment for honey bee mites.

Field bees: Those bees in the hive who are mature enough to fly from the hive on foraging missions; also termed forager bees.

Follower Board: A board anywhere from 3/4″ to 1/4″ thick, plywood or other material, cut to the size of your frames (deep, med or shallow). A simple divider that acts like a movable hive side, allowing you to create any interior size needed.

Gene: A unit of inheritance located at a specific location in a chromosome.

Gene pool: The genetic base available to bee breeders for stock improvement.

Germplasm: All the hereditary material that can potentially contribute to the production of new individuals.

Giant bee: (See Apis dorsata).

Glucose: (See Dextrose).

Grafting: The transfer of young larvae from worker cells to queen cups.

Granulated honey: (See crystallized honey).

Half sisters: Queen or worker bees produced by a single queen and sired by drones that are not related to each other.

Haploid: An organism or cell with one set of chromosomes; for example, drone bee.

HBH: Honey-Bee-Healthy, an essential oil additive to honey bee feed to control varroa mites, tracheal mites and to reverse the parasitic mite syndrome (PMS) seen in colonies infested with varroa mites.

Hemizygous: The condition in which only one allele of a pair is present. Drones are hemizygous at all loci.

Heterosis: Hybrid vigor.

Heterozygous: An organism with unlike members of any given pair or series of alleles (bee genetics).

HFCS: High Fructose Corn Syrup

Hive: Man-constructed home for bees.

Hive stand: A device that elevates the bottom board up off the ground.

Honey bound: When the brood nest is bounded or restricted by cells/comb filled with honey.

Honeycomb: Comb built by honey bees with hexagonal back-to-back cells on median midrib.

Honeydew: Sweet secretion from aphids and scale insects.

Honey extractor: (See Extractor).

Honey flow: Period when bees are collecting nectar from plants in plentiful amounts.

Honey house: Building in which honey is extracted and handled.

Honey pump: Pump for transferring liquid honey, usually from the extractor to storage tanks.

Honey stomach: (Honey sac) An enlargement of the posterior end of the oesophagus in the bee abdomen. It is the sac in which the bee carries nectar from flower to hive.

Honey sump: Temporary honey-holding area with baffles usually placed between the extractor and the honey pump; tends to hold back sizable pieces of wax and comb.

Hot room: An insulated portion of a warehouse with radiant or forced air heating that can produce temperatures up to 100°F.

Hybrid: Offspring from two unrelated (usually inbred) lines.

Hymenoptera: Order to which all bees belong, as well as ants, wasps, and certain parasitic insects.

II: (See Instrumental Insemination)

Inbred: A homozygous organism usually produced by inbreeding.

Inbreeding: Matings among related individuals.

Incubator - An enclosure for controlling temperature in which young organisms may be hatched, often including heating and possibly cooling elements, automatic controlling apparatus, access doors, shelving systems, airflow devices, and heat distributing apparatus.

Inner cover: A cover used under the standard telescoping cover on a bee hive.

Integrated Pest Management (IPM): is a pest control strategy that uses a variety of complementary strategies including: mechanical devices, physical devices, genetic, biological, cultural management, and chemical management. These methods are done in three stages: prevention, observation, and intervention. It is an ecological approach with a main goal of significantly reducing or eliminating the use of pesticides while at the same time managing pest populations at an acceptable level.

Introducing cage: Small wood and wire cage used to ship queens and also sometimes to release them into the colony.

Invertase: Enzyme produced by bees that speeds inversion of sucrose to glucose and fructose.

Inverted or invert sugar syrup: is a mixture of glucose and fructose. It is obtained by splitting sucrose into its two components. Compared with its precursor sucrose, inverted sugar is sweeter and its products tend to stay moist and are less prone to crystallization. Inverted sugar is therefore valued by bakers, who refer to the syrup as ‘trimoline’ or ‘invert syrup’.

IPM: (See Integrated Pest Management)

Italian bees: A race or variety of honey bee which originated in Italy and has become widely dispersed and cross-bred with other races.

Jumbo hive: Hive 2-1/2 inches deeper than standard Langstroth hive.

Laidlaw push-in queen introduction cage: A wire cage of #8 hardware cloth roughly 5" x 7" x 7/8" inside dimension. It has NO self-release candy tube. The queen is placed onto a flat frame of empty comb suitable for laying eggs and is covered with the Laidlaw cage, which is pushed into the comb. The queen is released only after the bees have accepted her.

Langstroth: A minister from Pennsylvania who patented the first hive incorporating bee space thus providing for removable frames. The modern hive frequently is termed the Langstroth hive and is a simplified version of similar dimensions as patented by Langstroth.

Laying worker: Worker bees which lay non-fertilized eggs producing only drones. They occur in hopelessly queenless colonies. Laying workers will lay multiple eggs per cell, have a spotty brood pattern, eggs laid on the sides of the cell or off center, and drone brood in worker sized cells.

Levulose: Noncrystallizing sugar of honey which darkens readily if honey is overheated.

Line breeding: Mating of selected members of successive generations among themselves in an effort to maintain or fix desirable characteristics.

Locus: A fixed position on a chromosome occupied by a given gene or one of its alleles.

Mandibles: Jaws of insects.

Mating flight: The flight of a virgin queen during which time she mates with one or more drones high in the air away from the apiary. Queens usually mate with 6 to 10 drones on two or more mating flights.

Mead: A wine made with honey. If spices or herbs are added, the wine usually is termed metheglin.

Metamorphosis: Changes of insect from egg to adult.

Migratory beekeeping: Movement of apiaries from one area to another to take advantage of honey flows from different crops.

Mite: See Acarapis woodi and Varroa jacobsoni.

Mutation: A term used to describe both a sudden change in the alleles or chromosomes of an organism and the changed form itself as it persists.

Nasonov pheromone: Nasonov pheromone is released by worker bees to orient returning forager bees back to the colony. To broadcast this scent, bees raise their abdomens, which contain the Nasonov glands, and fan their wings vigorously.

Nectar: A sweet secretion of flowers of various plants, some of which secrete enough to provide excess for the bees to store as honey.

Nucleus (Nuke, Nuc): A small colony of bees resulting from a colony division. Also, a queen-mating hive used by queen breeders.

Nurse bees: Three-to 10-day-old adult bees that feed the larvae and perform other tasks in the hive.

Observation hive: Hive with glass sides so bees can be observed.

Ocellus (ocelli): Simple eye(s) of bees.

Orientation flights: Short orienting flights taken by young bees, usually by large numbers at one time and during warm part of day.

Package bees: A quantity of bees (2 to 5 lb) with or without a queen shipped in a wire and wood cage to start or boost colonies.

Paralysis: (See bee paralysis).

Parthenogenesis: Production of offspring from a virgin female.

Pheromones: Chemicals secreted by animals to convey information or to affect behavior of other animals of the same species. (See queen substance.)

Pistil: The combined stigma, style, and ovary of a flower.

PMS (Parasitic Mite Syndrome): For years we have been seeing diseased bee larvae with symptoms resembling a cross between foulbrood and sacbrood. The USDA Beltsville Bee Lab has found these diseased larvae to be infected with one, or commonly several, viruses. This new disease seems to be limited to colonies infested with Varroa mites. Additionally, beekeepers have experienced bees disappearing completely from previously healthy colonies in the early fall. This situation is most likely associated with Varroa mites, viruses or a combination of both.

Pollen: Male reproductive cells of flowers collected and used by bees as food for rearing their young. It is the protein part of the diet. Frequently called bee bread when stored in cells in the colony.

Pollen basket: Area on hind leg of bee adapted for carrying pellets of pollen.

Pollen trap: Device which forces bees entering hive to walk through a 5-mesh screen, removing pollen pellets from their legs into a collecting tray.

Pollination: The transfer of pollen from the anthers of a flower to the stigma of that or another flower.

Pollinator: The agent which transfers pollen; e.g., a bee.

Pollinizer: The plant source of pollen used for pollination; e.g., pollinizer varieties of apples and pears must be planted in order to produce a crop. Bees must carry the pollen from one variety to another.

Proboscis: Mouth parts of bee for sucking up nectar, honey, or water.

Propolis: A glue or resin collected from trees or other plants by bees; used to close holes and cover surfaces in the hive. Also called bee glue.

Pupa: Stage in life of developing bee after larva and before maturity.

Queen: Sexually developed female bee. The mother of all bees in the colony.

Queen cage: A special cage used to hold and ship (mail) queens and attendant bees.

Queen cage candy: A special fondant made from Nulomoline, drivert, and glycerine; used to feed queen and attendant bees in queen cages.

Queen cup: The beginnings of a queen cell in which the queen may lay a fertile egg to start the rearing of another queen.

Queen excluder: Device usually made of wood and wire, with opening 0.163 inch, to permit worker bees to pass through but excludes queens and drones. Used to restrict the queen to certain parts of the hive.

Rendering wax: Melting old combs and wax cappings and removing refuse to partially refine the beeswax. May be put through a wax press as part of the process.

Requeen: To replace a queen in a hive. Usually to replace an old queen with a young one.

Robbing: Bees steal honey from other hives. A common problem when nectar is not available in the field.

Robbing Screen: As frame with screen that covers the entrance to a hive during times when robbing is at high risk, such as during a nectar / pollen dearth. There is/are one or more exit holes, preferably shielded from outside view, where the hive bees may exit / enter. Robbing bees are attracted to the smell of honey coming out of the screen, down below the exit. The robbing screen gives the guard bees more time to respond to robbing bees, and a small opening that is easily defended. If the small opening gets clogged with dead bees, the colony does not suffocate if the temperature is hot.

Ropiness: Having the characteristic of sticky elasticity and stringing out when stirred and stretched.

Royal jelly: Glandular secretion of young worker bees used to feed the queen and young brood.

Sac brood: A fairly common virus disease of larvae, usually nonfatal to the colony.

Scale: A dehydrated, dead larva shrunken to an elongated thin, flat chip at the bottom of a cell.

Scout bees: Worker bees searching for nectar or other needs including suitable location for a swarm to nest.

Screened Bottom Board (SBB):

Sealed brood: Brood in pupal stage with cells sealed.

Self-pollination: The transfer of pollen from the anther to the stigma of the same flower or to flowers of the same plant or other plants of identical genetic material such as apple varieties, clones of wild blueberries, etc. (See autopollination).

Shaker Box - Any number of designs of boxes or systems of boxes intended to collect bees shaken from populated beehives. Most shaker boxes are well-ventilated. A queen excluder is often used to prevent shaking a queen into the shaker box. A single comb with brood is often placed in the shaker box to retain the shaken bees. Shaker boxes are most commonly associated with package bee production, but often find uses in queen rearing and nucleus colony production as well.

SHB: Small Hive Beetle (Aethina tumida). The small hive beetle can be a destructive pest of honey bee colonies, causing damage to comb, stored honey and pollen. If a beetle infestation is sufficiently heavy, they may cause bees to abandon their hive. The beetles can also be a pest of stored combs, and honey (in the comb) awaiting extraction. Beetle larvae may tunnel through combs of honey, feeding and defecating, causing discoloration and fermentation of the honey.

Skep: A beehive, usually of straw and dome-shaped, that lacks movable frames.

Slatted Bottom Rack: A ventilation board that fits between the bottom hive body and the bottom board (Langstroth Hive). It provides cluster space for bees, allows air circulation without allowing a direct draft on the brood, and helps prevent swarming.

Slumgum: A dark residue, consisting of brood cocoons and pollen, which is left after wax is rendered by the beekeeper.

SMR (Suppress Mite Reproduction): Scientists at the Honey Bee Breeding Genetic & Physiology Laboratory (USDA, Agricultural Research Service) in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, have selected bees that are resistant to this [varroa] mite. The mechanism of resistance is a trait of the honey bee that suppresses mite reproduction (SMR). This trait prevents female mites from producing progeny. Because SMR is a trait rather than a stock, SMR genes can be added to any population of honey bees by using traditional breeding methods.

Social insects: Insects which live in a family society, with parents and offspring sharing a common dwelling place and exhibiting some degree of mutual cooperation; e.g., honey bees, ants, termites.

Solar wax melter: Glass-covered box in which wax combs are melted by sun’s rays and wax is recovered in cake form.

Spermatheca: Small saclike organ in queen in which sperms are stored.

Spermatoza: Male reproductive cells.

Spiracles: External openings of tracheae through which bees breathe.

Spring dwindling: A condition in which the colony population decreases in size during spring at which time exponential population growth is anticipated.

Stamen: Male part of flower on which pollen-producing anthers are borne.

Sting: Modified ovipositor of female Hymenoptera developed into organ of defense.

Sucrose: Cane sugar; main solid ingredient of nectar before inversion into other sugars.

Super: A wooden box with frames containing foundation or drawn comb in which honey is to be produced. Named for its position above the brood nest. The same type of box is referred to as a hive body when it is situated below the honey supers and is intended to be used for brood rearing and pollen storage.

Supersedure: The replacement of a weak or old queen in a colony by a daughter queen – a natural occurrence.

Supersisters: Queens or worker bees produced by a single queen and sired by identical sperm from a single drone (subfamily).

Surplus honey: A term generally used to indicate an excess amount of honey above that amount needed by the bees to survive the winter. This surplus is usually removed by the beekeeper.

Swarm: Natural division of colony of bees.

Swarm frame: A unique frame, hinging at the bottom, used for holding feral comb taken from bee removals or cut-outs.

Tarsus: Fifth segment of bee leg.

Thorax: Middle part of bee.

Tracheae: Breathing tubes of insects.

Tracheal mite: (See Acarapis woodi)

Trophallaxis: the mutual exchange of regurgitated liquids between adult social insects or between them and their larvae.

Tumuli: Nest mounds (wild bees).

Uncapping knife: Knife used to remove honey cell caps so honey can be extracted.

Veil: Fabric netting/mesh worn over the head to protect face from being stung.

Virgin queen: Unmated queen.

VSH (Varroa Sensitive Hygiene): USDA ARS scientists Dr. John Harbo and Dr. Jeffrey Harris at the Honey Bee Breeding Laboratory in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, have defined and tested a trait of the honeybee which appeared to suppress mite reproduction (SMR). Recently it has been better defined as “varroa sensitive hygiene (VSH).” This is a form of behavior where adult bees remove pupae that have reproductive mites but do not disturb pupae that have mites that produce no progeny.

Waggle Dance - a form of communication whereby a returning forager bee or scout bee vibrates while walking on a comb in a figure-8, then shakes side-to-side (waggles). Other foragers can often be seen following the waggle-dancer bee. (see Bee dance)

Walk-away split: Frames with eggs and worker bees are removed from a queenright hive and installed into an empty brood chamber or nuc. The bees should create a queen cell out of a suitable egg. Once the queen hatches, successfully mates and returns to the hive, the hive will be queenright. Another option is to remove one complete brood chamber from a hive that has newly laid eggs in it, including bees, and move to a new location for the start of a new hive.

Warre Hive - A beehive type designed by Emile Warre, known for it's efforts to emulate a tree trunk. The boxes are smaller (12" x 12"), contain a thatch of straw to absorb moisture at the top, and additional boxes are stacked under the brood nest, often requiring a lifting device due to the accumulated weight of the boxes. Warre hives do not use frames.

Washboarding: Worker honey bees exhibit a “group” activity known as rocking or washboarding on the internal and external surfaces of the hive. This behavior is believed to be associated with general cleaning activities but virtually nothing is known as to the age of worker engaged in the behavior, under what circumstances workers washboard and the function of the behavior. Washboarding behavior appears to be age dependant with bees most likely to washboard between 15-25 days of age. Washboarding increases during the day and peaks through the afternoon. Workers may respond to rough texture and washboard more on those surfaces. The function of this behavior remains to be elucidated.

Wax glands: Glands on underside of bee abdomen from which wax is secreted after bee has been gorged with food.

Wax moth: Lepidopterous insect whose larvae destroy wax combs.

WBC Hive - A beehive type designed by William Broughton Carr, known for it's aesthetic shape and the advantages of being double-walled, namely it tends to stay warm and dry in cold climates. Frames go into the inner hive bodies, "lifts" stack outside the hive bodies forming a double wall and leaving approximately one inch of airspace between the walls. An entrance tunnel is placed to prevent the bees from entering the space between the inner and outer walls.

Wild bees: Any insects that provision their nests with pollen, but do not store surplus’ edible honey.

"Illustrated" BeeSource Glossary project

You may have seen the existing Beekeeping Glossary thread posted in the Announcements forum, or a copy in the Beekeeping 101 forum. I'm working with Barry to get appropriate photos linked to as many definitions as practical.

We are inviting Beesource members to contribute appropriate photos to this project. Photo credit will accompany images used in the glossary. Since we are just getting started, it would be helpful to just limit initial contributions to words in the glossary beginning with "A". That would include Abdomen, Acarapis woodi (tracheael mite), Antennae, Apis dorsata, Apis mellifera, etc. Clearly there are some terms in the Glossary that don't need a photo, so please don't submit photos for terms like "Apiarist." Once we see how this goes, the rest of the alphabet can be covered.

Generally, each term will have only one photo, so please understand that not every contribution can be used. Please do not submit photos that you do not own. Photos harvested from somewhere else on the net are not acceptable.

Photos that are at least 150 DPI will work best, and of course, the subject itself needs to be in focus, but background areas of the photo are not as important. Please submit photos via email to admin@beesource.com

Re: Beekeeping Glossary

Originally Posted by kilocharlie

Laidlaw push-in queen introduction cage = a rectangle of wood with 5" x 7" x 7/8" inside dimension with #8 hardware cloth attached to the top, and a strip of sheet metal protruding 3/8" below the wooden frame. It has NO self-release candy tube. The queen is placed onto a flat frame of empty comb suitable for laying eggs and is covered with teh Laidlaw cage, which is pushed in all the way down to the wood. The queen is released only after the bees have accepted her.

Well, I do it a bit differently. The old queen is removed. My cage is #8 screen with no wood. The new queen is placed beneath the cage on a comb with no bees, but with emerging brood and a bit of nectar...under the cage. The bees that emerge beneath the push-in cage immediately accept the queen as they've never even seen a queen. The queen is brought into a laying condition. The cage is pulled 4 days after the queen was placed beneath it. Occasionally the bees will start emergency cells, but it seems the bees remove them once the queen is released.